President Barack Obama speaks about the National Security Agency (NSA) and intelligence agencies surveillance techniques at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, DC, January 17, 2014. (Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images)

Based on the philosophy of preserving the NSA programs but making them more transparent and protective of privacy rights, the president outlined several changes. But Mr. Obama’s solutions brought an avalanche of criticisms due to their vagueness and difficulty in implementing.

What are your thoughts?

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Given the track record of the Obama Administration when it comes to this issue I have to suspect that the vagueness is quite deliberate. They’ve been caught in lies already, so their solution is to be vague enough to give themselves wiggle-room the next time something they’ve been suggesting or implying or insinuating proves to be false.

At that point they’ll say, as many politicians do when they’re caught, ‘Oh, that’s not what we meant at all. I’m not sure how we gave you that impression.’ If they thought they were doing the right thing, they’d admit it, instead of all this bob and weave stuff.

They could admit at least the broad outlines of what they’re doing without giving any details away. I’m sure the real enemies they’re targeting already know what’s going on in a general way. It’s just the American people that are being kept in the dark.

Pony

I’m using the NSA as my cloud now.

takawalk

Sadly I find myself viewing this as more empty rhetoric. What is he really saying?